Monday, January 25, 2010

It is almost time for another round of blood work. Since last time I've been on a twice per week castor schedule, which has yet to cause any noticeable differences. My lymph node remains and from all that I can tell has not changed in size or shape. Besides the small skin irritations and the occasional mouth sores, the past few weeks have been pretty uneventful. In my story, no news is most certainly good news.

At this point it is wait and see. I don't really consider myself as being sick. I no longer dread the fact that I have a cancer diagnosis. Sure we all have our moments, but on a daily basis we are all getting along just fine. What I am doing is reading and following the stories of others that also share a cancer diagnosis. I am intrigued at how all the stories seem to follow a similar path. It is interesting to read what others are thinking, or at least willing to share about their thoughts as to how they've come to make their treatment decisions.

What I find most interesting is that even though I've chosen to take an alternative path, I don't consider it a good option for many. The American way of life simply doesn't permit it. Many of us have large homes and large mortgages to go with them. We also have fancy cars, send our kids to private schools and a lust for the absolute latest in technology. Most of us wouldn't be able to survive without a supermarket, shopping mall or the ever growing and changing options provided by nearby chain restaurants.

In order to afford these things, we have to work. Usually we have to drive our fancy cars in rush hour traffic to get there, and then again to get home. We want to get a jump on traffic so skip our healthy breakfast and instead quickly use the drive thru to pick up a coffee and donut. Better yet, make that two donuts. We still arrive to work late which puts us on edge for the rest of the morning.

Lunch time rolls around and you've been good. You know you live in this fast paced world so you've planned for it. You either make a sandwich from the store bought processed what we think started out as turkey the night before, or better yet we simply grab one of those highly salted prepackaged frozen meals that you'll just throw in the microwave, quick. Not today though ... You stayed up way too late watching last night's ball game. So today we're gonna pick up something quick at the food court. Not to worry, all the salted frozen food will last for weeks!

We're usually stressed from work or simply late getting home so we pick up some food on our way. Studies show that even though many of us have memberships to the gym, we don't use them so why would tonight be any different? Instead lets just stay up late watching television and learn about more stuff that we can lust after or munch on in the days and weeks ahead. We go to bed late, wake up early to beat traffic and do it all over again.

The human body can take a lot of abuse. We should know, we put it to the test every chance that we get. It's human nature. When we do this to ourselves for years on end, we start to develop issues like diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Then when we get sick we head to the doctor, who shares in the same health problems and American lifestyle as we do and then ask them for for help. They reach into their grab bag of *medical knowledge* sold to them by those selling the same medicine that they are now so proudly prescribing. They either say that there is a pill for that or that there is not a pill for that.

Here is what boggles my mind the most from all of this. This post is full of stuff that each and every one of us already know. The problem is that we don't know how to fix it. We can't even trust the information that is given to us since it is either published by or largely persuaded by the lobbies and large corporations that want to sell us more goods.

Besides selling everything, quitting your job, moving to the mountains and starting your own organic farm to feed your own family, I don't have an answer either. This is the world we live in and we've done it to ourselves. What is sad is that there was so much money in it that we decided to spread our American way of life across the entire globe. Now we all share in the steadily increasing risk of cancer and other chronic diseases.

Maybe this is what December 21, 2012 is all about. Just maybe things will be made very clear so that on the 22nd of December, we all know the correct path. Or quite possibly the only ones who survive the apocalypse will be those who sold everything and moved to the mountains with the foresight of a sustainable food and clean water supply. Or clearly, it is a bad thing to have time on ones hands (and no fluoride in ones water) to think about stuff like this.

I couldn't agree more with you on this one, seriously. There are days I have begged to move to a small organic farm :)

I just found myself alone for the week in a beautiful house in Napa (my friends who were suppose to come with me just lost their beautiful, young Mother to Cancer on Friday.)

I am having a hard time relaxing, and I could not be in a more relaxing environment. I believe this is run off from that very life you describe above.

However, what I will tell you that I have noticed on this trip more than any of the others I have been here is first how much younger folks look here (naturally.) And, how relaxed, happy and unhurried they are. Also, I can't help but eat more healthy. The fruits the veggies are all organic, and many actually in season. While here I am forced to be a different person. I am going to fight hard when I return to remember this and try to practice more of this. For probably the best place for food and wine, in the country maybe even the world people are healthier and more fit than anywhere.

While I suspect 12-21-12 will be pretty uneventful, maybe I should travel here just to be safe ;)

I agree 100% with what you said, Mike, and straightaway went to get a glass of carrot and apple juice! :) We live lives of "quiet desperation" as Henry Thoreau once said (and never a truer word spoken). But it doesn't have to be that way....~ Celeste

Your wife and kids are so ready to move to the mountains to have an organic farm with lots of fruits, veggies and animals (of course the animals are only for petting). We just need to move somewhere warmer :)!!!!

Holy crap Mike...that post was awesome!!! You write the truth...that's for sure.

Ever since my husband and I have had our eyes opened, we have been talking about selling everything, moving to the mountains, and starting our own garden. Will it happen? Sadly, probably not, but we are making a conscious effort not to live the way you describe in your post. No way! We know better now. Do we slip up? Sure. But for the most part we are not allowing ourselves to be drones. We love our country but know we can't trust the government to keep us healthy and protect us from the ills of the world. We no longer just trust doctors just because they are doctors. We know we have to be advocates in our own health. These are things that others need to learn. Everyone has the power to change their lives, their health. The “powers that be” want you to think you do not have the power, that you need them. This is not the case.

When I found you back in August, it was because my MIL was just re diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and we were learning about Gerson and dietary changes that could help. My MIL chose not to do Gerson but instead started a low dosage oral chemo and has drastically changed her diet since August 2009. Since then every blood test she has taken shows her cancer markers are going down each month. She feels empowered with the ability change her situation. She is in control and more people need to know that they can look to themselves to control their destiny. People like you have inspired us to see that.

Hi Mike!Just discovered your blog when I got my Gerson newsletter. I too had cancer, 11 years ago. Although I did not choose the Gerson approach, mine was very similar. I went on a massive vegetable juicing spree that lasted 2 years. My cancer was non Hodgkins lymphoma and the conventional approach would have been chemotherapy and radiotherapy, even though they said it could not be cured. I was symptom free within a year. I have written a book about my experience and I don't know whether it might help you. It is called "Rabbits don't get Lymphoma. Kissing my cancer goodbye." available on Amazon. Sorry if this sounds like a plug....I found that facing up to my own death, sooner than expected, made me change a lot of my attitudes about living. We make ourselves willing prisoners to a way of life that is more akin to slavery than real life. It takes courage to question what you do for a living, whom to believe, whom to trust. We have been brainwashed and conned into seeing our bodies as the enemy to fight, always waiting for something to go wrong, when in fact our bodies support us for as long as they can. I have seen for myself the power of suppressed emotions in the creation of disease. That is an aspect of us that needs to be addressed too if we want to be well.I could go on and on but I don't want to bore you. Just wanted to tell you that this approach works, this and enjoying your life, making sure you look forward to something that makes your heart sing on a daily basis. Love to you and yourscathie

Take heart. There ARE options. People ARE waking up and living a simple, sustainable life and still living in our communities. You don't need to leave your life and live in a cave. Small, sustainable farms CAN feed the world. It is in fact, the ONLY way. The world can, as our bodies can, heal and sustain us if we give her a chance - she will with or without us - but it can be done. Google two movies: Food, Inc. and Fresh and watch them. Check out the WestonAPriceFoundation website. Food clubs are popping up everywhere. These clubs are basically co-ops who are seeking out local sources of sustainably grown/raised foods. Organizations are supporting the small farmers with legal defense funds.

Have the courage to face the truth and see how so many are making the changes. Just knowing there are so many people who are living the "impossible" gives the dynamic change that must happen a great power and momentum. I could go on and on about the very many exciting things being done - they are not just dreams - they are a reality.

Much love to you Mike. We think of you every day. Thanks for sharing your journey.

Thank G-d that dreadful disease is one I never had, nor want to have. But with so many people coming down with it, one naturally tends to think how to avert such disaster.

I happened upon the Gerson therapy after 2 years of reading (intensely) what's available in alternative medicine, realizing that conventional medicine was nothing but drug-pushing. I say this literally - they care care as much about curing you as pushers care to get their buyers going straight. The analogy is correct too because rather than wanting to cure you, they want to continue to "treat" you, just as the pusher enjoys and profits from his victims' addiction.

The trouble with the Gerson method is that it's intensive labor, to find all that organic stuff and prepare it. To find really organic vegetables and fruits in today's environment, where ads are allowed to lie, where the word "natural" no longer means natural, and where farmers and breeders use pesticides and hormones, and where even government cons the people by injecting the common folks' water with such a potent poison as fluoride, where dentists are conned to think that this poison "helps fight cavities", where so much is corrupt and only serves to dumb down the masses - that DOES makes finding good food and water a problem.

Big agricultural interests has squeezed out the small family farmers, that used to be the mainstay of the American way of life, and taken over. They don't care to take good care of the lands or their crops - organically. They want too lengthen the shelf life of their "products" - which are processed and reprocessed, taking the life out of the product. 95% of what is sold in a supermarket is simply hazardous to our health.

And people ARE being dumbed down - to be sure. You see it in the blind faith people still have in their "doctors" and in their paternal organizations such as the FDA, NCIH, AMA - which Dr. Richard Schultze correctly calls the "American Murderers Association", etc.

As a lonesome individual with eyesight among so many who are blind, the only hope we have is as some commetators here speak of re-sprouting small farmers that grom their foods organically. But for the Gerson therapy, which calls for treating a body badly abused for years on end, the quantity for each such body is huge. I doubt if one small farm of organic produce can handle even it.

Anyhow - that's where faith in Our Creator fills the gap. He will help those who need help and ask Him for His help. He is, after all, the One who created us to live nobly - not to die ignobly.